I love fashion!  Even though I would never have been considered fashionable when I was younger, I loved clothes and make up and always wanted to do more.  Unfortunately, not only am I cursed with the appearance that I was born with but I’m also living in a city that isn’t exactly known for fashion.  But that’s a different topic altogether!

One of the things that I’ve been wanting to learn to do for awhile now is to sew.  There are several reasons for this.  I need to be able to alter clothes.  Not everyone is the same shape but there are only a few shapes of clothes that you see in stores.  And when you’re on the larger end of the spectrum, your clothing options shrink (oddly enough).  So, being a weirdly shaped ‘plus’ means that clothes won’t always fit properly and the ability to alter my clothes would be invaluable.

But I also have a lot of ideas swimming in my noodle.  I know what would look good on me but I can’t always find it.  So, needless to say, being able to create clothes from scratch would also be an invaluable skill.  And not just fantastical stuff either.  It would be great to make my own pants and shirts.

So, this month, I finally demanded that my mom teach me!  It started simply.  Obviously, I had to learn how to set up and use her old Singer sewing machine (which I think is older than me but it works, has everything that I need to get started, and that’s the important part, right?)  At the time, I started refinishing my bedroom window a bit so obviously, new curtains were in order.  Now, there’s nothing terribly complicated about sewing curtains, especially when you keep one of the original hems but still, it was a start and that was the important thing.  While wandering through a fabric store, I found some material that I thought would make a beautiful scarf so I worked a nice little hem on that.  And of course, there are always things for mending in this house and I did a few of those.  I was well on my way to becoming a seamstress!

Then one day, my mom found some fabric that she bought back in the 70’s.  White polka dots on mint green polyester – classic 70’s awesomeness!  And how could I not want to make something out of it?  It’s not like she was going to make whatever crazy outfit she was planning to make 40 years ago!

And what popped into my head when I saw it?  A skirt!  A big, poufy, flowing skirt!  I could see it in my head.  Oh, if only I was a better artist so I could draw it!  But little by little, I started to deconstruct the image in my head so I had an idea of what the patter should look like.  I even went to a fabric store to find a pattern which I did but unfortunately, it was quite expensive.  However, it did confirm what I had rolling around in my mind and I set out to draw my own pattern.  It took a few days of fighting with and a few drops of blood sweat and teas but eventually, I finished it – my first ever skirt!  And from scratch too!

Okay, it didn’t quite come out as I wanted.  It doesn’t quite have the movement that I wanted but at least I know why.  First of all, there was a problem in my pattern that I suspected would make the skirt more sleek instead of poufy but I was too scared of running out of fabric (which was definitely not an issue at the end of it all) so I didn’t correct it.  But most importantly, I need to start trusting my vision and more importantly, my instincts about things.  I always ask for opinions throughout my works but not everyone sees what I see.  For example, my flower broach was supposed to be big and flashy; reminiscent of the 60’s/70’s but I listened to my mom and made it small.  It would be an understatement to say that I’m not thrilled with the result!  I had the vision and I should have stuck with it.  Live and learn, right?

And that’s what it boils down to.  This did not turn out as planned, I know why, but I’m still very proud of my creation and I can’t wait to where it out soon!